Tending To Turn Out Pretty Great
by Lugian Before Swine
Summary: Childhood/elementary school AU. Takao protects Midorima from a bully. Oneshot plus little bonus chapter.
1. Tending To Turn Out Pretty Great

When the third spitball collides with Midorima's hair, Takao decides that he's had enough. Completely disregarding the rule against talking out of turn, he loudly shoves his chair back and stands up, shouting "Cut it out already!" at the nasty bully currently readying another spitball.

The teacher stops mid-sentence to say "Takao! What is going on?"

"He keeps shooting spitballs at Midorima!" Takao points to the offending boy, who now has his hands folded in front of him and looks to be the picture of innocence (_of course_.) Takao's nose wrinkles. "It's mean and gross!"

Midorima, who had already begun hunching down in his chair, now puts his head down on his desk and his arms over his head. This is mortifying. As if the spitballs themselves weren't bad enough, now this dummy had to call attention to it and now the teacher is gonna make the bully publically apologize to him and all Midorima wants to do is sink into the floor and disappear—

"Is this true?" the teacher asks the offending boy.

"No!" he shouts instantly. "Takao's lying!"

"I'm not lying! I saw it happen!" Takao fires back immediately.

"Okay, okay, listen, boys," the teacher says, exasperated. "Both of you stay after class. And you too, Midorima."

Midorima nods as best as he can manage with his face pressed to the surface of the desk. At least this interrogation wouldn't happen in front of all of his classmates.

Takao makes a "hmph" sound and sits back down noisily. When Midorima chances a glance up, he finds Takao looking at him worriedly, and it makes his chest feel weird, so he puts his head back down.

No more spitballs fly during the class, and when the bell rings, all the students except Midorima, Takao, and the bully hurriedly leave the classroom.

The teacher gives the bully a harsh warning for his behavior and sends him on his way, which Takao privately thinks is far too lenient a punishment. She holds Takao and Midorima back for a minute longer, though.

"Takao, it was nice of you to want to help one of your classmates, but next time, please raise your hand," the teacher says politely.

Takao looks down at his feet and nods.

"And Midorima," the teacher continues, "if any of your classmates are ever being mean to you, you can always come talk to me, okay?"

Midorima copies Takao, nodding towards the floor.

"Well, I'll see you boys tomorrow," the teacher says, and they leave.

Once outside the classroom and down the mostly-empty hall a bit, Takao stops and grabs Midorima's hand. "You feel scared to talk in class, don't you?" he asks, and it doesn't sound accusatory, just concerned and interested.

Midorima wonders briefly why this boy he hardly knows cares about this, but then he looks at their joined hands and nods.

"I thought so. Well, that's okay," Takao says, smiling brightly, "because I'm going to protect you from now on."

Midorima balks, and then there's that weird feeling in his chest again, almost like it's burning on the inside. Maybe he should ask his mother to take him to the doctor.

But Takao seems nice, and seeing his smile makes Midorima smile too, just a little bit. "Okay," he replies quietly. "Thank you."

* * *

**A/N: Fast forward 8-10 years and Takao is cornering guys twice his size, whispering "What did you say about Shin-chan?" all menacingly. Hehe, okay, I'm out, thanks for reading!**


	2. Omake: 8 Years Later

**A/N: For those of you who wanted a sequel, here you go! I couldn't resist. ^.^ (Also I'm calling it an omake but it's almost as long as the actual fic...this was only supposed to be like 200 words but it totally got away from me. Anyway...)**

**8 years later...**

"Takao, you've got to stop doing this."

It was Takao's second trip to the nurse's office in as many weeks. Normally, he managed to avoid getting into physical fights, but the past few weeks had proved to contain exceptions.

"Aww," Takao smiled despite the bruise starting to form just below his right cheekbone, "is Shin-chan worried about me?"

"Of course I'm worried about you!" Midorima spat before he could think better of it. He cleared his throat. "I—it's an inconvenience missing class to tend to you here."

_Sure it is,_ Takao thought sarcastically. "Like you even need to go to class. Besides, the only reason I'm here is to make sure you don't end up in my place."

Midorima sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He did feel a little bit guilty, but— "I've told you, those immature boys would never start a physical fight with me, and I can easily ignore whatever petty and childish insults they throw at me."

"But I can't!" Takao stood up from the cot he'd been seated on and walked closer to Midorima. "It really bothers me when they say those things to you. And you never stand up for yourself, so someone has to—"

"Takao," Midorima cut him off sharply, only to realize he didn't know what to say. It was true that he was picked on quite a bit, but it seemed to bother Takao much more than it bothered him. But Takao was only trying to be helpful, even though it put him at risk for injuries like this. This was the true cause of Midorima's frustration. He didn't like to see Takao get hurt.

Before he realized what he was doing, his mouth was opening to speak. "I…I don't like to see you injured," he muttered, cursing himself for his sudden embarrassment. It was true, of course, so why was it so hard to say?

Takao's face lit up in happiness. "Shin-chan, such a gentleman," he said. "Would you walk me back to class? The nurse said I could leave if I take an icepack with me."

"Of course I'll walk you back to class; where do you think I'm headed?" Midorima asked irritably. There was no real anger in his voice, Takao noted. There rarely was when his Shin-chan was talking to him. Takao couldn't help but grin.

Midorima had been halfway out the door before he turned back to Takao. "Quit grinning like an idiot and let's go," he snapped.

"Okay, okay," Takao conceded happily, jogging a few steps to catch up. His face hurt, but the grin wouldn't disappear. This was all worth it.


End file.
